How this estimate is calculated
Your employer first takes INPS contributions from your gross salary: 9.19% for your pension, plus 1% on pay above €56,224 a year, up to a ceiling of €122,295. These contributions are not taxed, so IRPEF is charged on what is left.
From the IRPEF you get the employee tax credit (detrazione per lavoro dipendente) of up to €1,955, which phases out by €50,000, and an extra credit of up to €1,000 for incomes between €20,000 and €40,000. Incomes up to €20,000 get a tax-free sum on top of the salary instead, and lower incomes can get the trattamento integrativo of up to €1,200 a year.
Then come the regional and municipal surcharges (addizionali), set by where you live on 1 January. Your employer withholds most of them in the following year, but this estimate counts them in the year they belong to.
IRPEF brackets in 2026
From 2026 the second rate is 33% (Legge 199/2025).
| Taxable income per year | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to €28,000 | 23% |
| €28,000 to €50,000 | 33% |
| Above €50,000 | 43% |
On €28,000 of taxable income the tax before credits is €6,440. On €50,000 it is €13,700, plus 43% of anything above.
Regional and municipal surcharges
Each region sets its own surcharge (addizionale regionale), between 0.7% and 3.63% in 2026, and some regions exempt lower incomes. You only pay the surcharges if you owe IRPEF after tax credits.
Municipal rates (addizionale comunale) differ by comune. In Milan it is 0.8% of taxable income, with no surcharge up to €23,000. A comune has until 20 December to publish its rate for the year; until then the previous year's rate applies. For the cities in this calculator, the latest published rates are for 2025.
The impatriati regime in 2026
If you move your tax residence to Italy to work, only 50% of your employment income is taxed, or 40% if you move with a minor child or one is born or adopted while the regime runs. It covers up to €600,000 of income a year and lasts 5 years, starting with the year you move.
The regime is a tax exemption. The law sets no reduction of INPS contributions, so this estimate charges INPS on the full salary. Your employer can apply the regime in your payslip.
Main conditions
- You were not tax resident in Italy in the 3 tax years before the move. If you keep working for the employer or group you worked for abroad, it is 6 years, or 7 if you worked in Italy for it before you left.
- You stay tax resident in Italy for at least 4 years. If you leave sooner, the tax saved is recovered with interest.
- You work in Italy for most of each tax year.
- You are highly qualified or specialised, or did research in artificial intelligence.
People who moved before 2024 may still be under the older regime, which has other rules and is not covered here.
Freelancers: regime forfettario or ordinary rules
Most freelancers with revenue up to €85,000 a year use the regime forfettario. Your taxable income is your revenue times a coefficient set by your activity: 78% for professional, technical and scientific services, 67% for IT and most other activities. After deducting INPS, you pay a flat 15% tax instead of IRPEF and the surcharges, or 5% in the first 5 years of a new activity.
The regime stops applying in the year your revenue goes above €100,000. It is not open to people who earned more than €35,000 as employees the year before, or who mainly work for a current or recent employer.
Under the ordinary rules you pay IRPEF and the surcharges on your profit after INPS, with a tax credit for self-employed income of up to €1,265.
Professionals without their own pension fund pay 26.07% of their income to the INPS Gestione separata, on income up to €122,295.
What this estimate leaves out
- Tax credits for a spouse or children, and regional or municipal relief for dependants.
- Supplementary pension and health funds, and other deductions on your payslip.
- Extra INPS contributions that apply in some sectors and to some employers.
- Severance pay (TFR), which your employer sets aside on top of your salary.
- Starting or leaving part way through the year.
- For freelancers: VAT, IRAP, and professional pension funds (casse professionali).
- Anything settled later in your tax return, such as medical expenses or mortgage interest.
Your employer also pays its own share of INPS on top of your gross salary. It is not taken from your pay.